Today’s Highlights:
New York Theatre Workshop‘s Becoming Eve, by Emil Weinstein, directed by Tyne Rafaeli, featuring Tommy Dorfman, Judy Kuhn, Tedra Millan, Rad Pereira (Chesky), Justin Perkins (Puppeteerm Richard Schiff (tati) Brandon Uranowitz (Jonah), and Emma Wiseman (Purreteer), opens at Off Broadway’s Abrons Art Center.
The Journals of Adam & Eve benefit reading, by Ed. Weinbeger, starring Hal Linden (Adam) and Sally Struthers (Eve), at 6 PM at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.
Songs in the Key of Life concert, directed by Annette Jolles & Joel Fram, featuring Ali Louis Bourzgui, Jenn Colella, Britney Coleman, Nikki Renée Daniels, Adrianna Hicks, Amber Iman, Jhardon DiShon Milton, Aramie Payton, Zachary Noah Piser, Heath Saunders, Rashidra Scott, Antoine L. Smith, Nathaniel Stampley, Gene, at 8 PM at NYC’s Symphony Space.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: The Name’s the Same by Jim Bernhard
Identify these pairs of Broadway figures who share the same last name:
| 1. Director of My Fair Lady and lyricist of Lady Fingers | A. Miller |
| 2. Star of Hello, Dolly! and star of The House of Blue Leaves | B. Porter |
| 3. Director of BOOP! and star of Ragtime | C. Davis |
| 4. Author of All My Sons and star of Sugar Babies | D. Channing |
| 5. Author of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Any More and author of Night Must Fall | E. Bates |
| 6. Author and star of Purlie Victorious and star of The Night of the Iguana | F. Smith |
| 7. Designer of Camelot and star of Follies | G. Wilder |
| 8. Author of The Skin of Our Teeth and star of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | H. Willliams |
| 9. Composer of Anything Goes and star of Kinky Boots | I. Hart |
| 10. Star of ‘night, Mother and star of Look Back in Anger | J. Mitchell |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Reviews for The Last Five Years at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre:
New York Times (Jesse Green): …The Last Five Years, by Jason Robert Brown, is still the ur-nerdical — nerdical being a term I made up to describe shows, like Fun Home, The Band’s Visit and Kimberly Akimbo, that are too good to stay in the very small theater-geek niche they arose from… Whether the story has a happy ending thus depends on how you look at it… But in the show’s first Broadway incarnation, starring the resplendent Adrienne Warren and an underpowered Nick Jonas, the structure (along with the balance) has been compromised.
New York Daily News (Chris Jones): It’s also a show about early-career artists, those years when big breaks have to be grabbed by the horns but also when the agonizing realization first dawns that they might never happen (one chills out either way, as one ages). And that’s the first disconnect with the disappointing new Broadway production at the Hudson Theatre, featuring the truly bizarre casting of Nick Jonas, the pop star of Jonas Brothers heritage and fame, playing the rising novelist Jamie, and Adrienne Warren, best known for playing the title role in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” a character that is about as far away from the struggling summer-stock actress Cathy as Jupiter is from Mars…
Theatermania (Zachary Stewart): There are a lot of ways to cope with the pain of a failed marriage … While there’s plenty of screaming, the wound appears oddly bloodless in this overcooked production from director Whitney White… leaving audiences with a top-notch recital of favorite audition songs—but a mostly unmoving theatrical experience… onas, who feels strangely disconnected from the text, hitting all the right notes beautifully, if blandly… Warren takes control with a performance that is specific and heartfelt, elucidating every lyric and telling us so much more with her doe eyes and incredulously crossed arms…
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski): …has always been an unsatisfying musical … the emotional sledgehammer numbers are mainstays of cabarets all over the world. But when they’re fused together to tell the womp-womp story of Jamie and Cathy, spouses who barely interact onstage as they loudly belt out their grievances, they make for a whiny bore of a show that manages to be both slim and lumbering. Believe me, despite a short 90-minute runtime, The Last Five Years is never “moving too fast.” You’re five years older by curtain call…
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KT Tunstall & Glenn Slater’s Clueless, The Musical has been extended through Mar. 28, 2026 at London’s Trafalgar Theatre, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh.
Emma Flynn (Cher Horowitz), Keelan McAuley (Josh), Chyna-Rose Frederick (Dionne, Romona), Lewis-Malley (Tai,) Rabi Kondé (Murray,) and Isaac J Lewis (Christian), Blake Jordan (Travis,) Max Mirza (Elton), Ryan O’Donnell (Mel/Mr. Hall/ Driving Instructor), Imelda Warren-Green (Miss Geist/Ms Stoeger /Lucy /Heather) and Emily Florence (Amber), with Grace Eleanor Thomas, Sophie Elmes, Aoife Kenny, James Lim, Ernest Stroud, Jacob Fisher and Josh Latunji. Swings are Rachel Seirian, Lucy Rice, Dylan Gordon-Jones, and Lucas Lluna.
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Boston’s Speakeasy Stage will present Jocelyn Bioh’s JaJa’s African Hair Braiding May 2-31 (opening May 4) at the Calderwood Pavilion, directed by Summer L. Williams.
Ashley Aldarondo, Dru Sky Berrian, Catia, MaConnia Chesser, Yasmeen Duncan, MarHadoo Effeh, Crystin Gilmore, Joshua Olumide, Hampton Richards, and Kwezi Shongwe.
A powerful comedic tale about joy, dreams, community, and sisterhood. On a hot summer day in Harlem in 2019, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding Salon is open for business, even though its eponymous owner is hours away from getting married. Presiding over the shop’s team of talented, high-spirited designers is Jaja’s daughter Marie, a DREAMer who has set her sights on college. When shocking news disrupts the day’s festivities, the women must grapple with what it means to be outsiders in the place they call home.
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Johnny Elkins’ A Midsummer Night’s Musical, based on the Shakespeare play, will take place Tues. Apr. 8 at 2 PM at CA’s Coachella Valley Rep, directed by Lee Martino & Jason Graae.
Jason Graae (Puck), Nick Apostolina (Lysander/Snug/Oberon’s Elf/Fairy), Maverick Carpio (Demetrius/Snout/Oberon’s Elf/Fairy), Michelle Estrada (Helena/Cobweb), Jack Laufe Peter Quince/Egeus/Mustardseed/
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Boston’s Lyric Stage has announced its 2025-26 season:
Our Town (Sept. 19 – Oct. 19), directed by Courtney O’Connor.
Sherlock Carol (Nov. 14 – Dec. 21), by Mark Shanahan, directed by Ilyse Robbins.
Penelope (Feb. 6 – Mar. 1, 2026), by Alex Bechtel & Grace McLean, directed by Courtney O’Connor. The play imagines Homer’s The Odyssey through the eye of Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, as she waits 20 years for his ruturn, faking correspondence with him to stall the suitors vying for her and the kingdom.
Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous (Mar. 20 – Apr. 12), by Pearl Cleage, directed by Jacqui Parker. Anna Campbell, a pioneering actress, returns to the U.S. after a 25-year self0imposed exile, only to to find her groundbreaking performance piece, Naked Wilson, is being revived with a younger, inexperienced performer, sparking a clash of generations and exploring themes of ambition, and legacy.
Something Rotten (May 1 – June 7), directed by Llana Ransom Toeplitz
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GRACE NOTES Quiz Answers: The Name’s the Same
1-I. Director of My Fair Lady and lyricist of Lady Fingers – Moss Hart and Lorenz Hart
2-D. Star of Hello, Dolly! and star of The House of Blue Leaves – Carol Channing and Stockard Channing
3-J. Director of BOOP! and star of Ragtime – Jerry Mitchell and Brian Stokes Mitchell
4-A. Author of All My Sons and star of Sugar Babies – Arthur Miller and Ann Miller
5-H. Author of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Any More and author of Night Must Fal –Tennessee Williams and Emlyn Williams
6-C. Author and star of Purlie Victorious and star of The Night of the Iguana – Ossie Davis and Bette Davis
7-F. Designer of Camelot and star of Follies – Oliver Smith and Alexis Smith
8-G. Author of The Skin of Our Teeth and star of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Thornton Wilder and Gene Wilder
9-B. Composer of Anything Goes and star of Kinky Boots – Cole Porter and Billy Porter
10-E. Star of ‘night, Mother and star of Look Back in Anger – Kathy Bates and Alan Bates